Podcast: Vale: TxDOT should add east-west corridor in Tamaulipas to master plan

The president of the Starr-Camargo Bridge Company has urged TxDOT to add a new east-west corridor from Matamoros to Camargo to the Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Master Plan it is developing. Sam Vale made his case at a stakeholders meeting the Texas Department of Transportation held recently in Reynosa. Bridge leaders from South Texas, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon were present. “If you look at valid traffic studies, not made up just to promote an issue, you will find out that, if you look at Laredo, even if they double World Trade, even if they build 4 and 5, even if they get the road to Colombia, if all of that happens in the next four or five years, there is still going to be 1,500 trucks per day that don’t make it across,” Vale said.“So a border corridor also makes it possible for them to use other facilities in a relatively short time and the important thing is it makes business grow. As business grows we all make money and have a better quality of life.”Vale is a member of an advisory board that makes recommendations to TxDOT on border transportation issues. He was responding to similar remarks made by Leonel Cantú Robles, the secretary of economic development for Reynosa.Timoteo “Tim” Juarez, Jr., manager for international trade and border planning for TxDOT, said he “totally agreed” with Vale’s analysis. Juarez chaired the meeting in Reynosa.VIPs at the TxDOT meeting in Reynosa included Mission Mayor Armando O'Caña and Reynosa Mayor Maki Ortiz. Bridge leaders from Cameron County, Pharr, McAllen and Mission were also present.Editor's Note: The above podcast features the raw audio from the TXDOT meeting in Reynosa, Tamaulipas. Most of the conversations were in Spanish.Editor's Note: Click here for the full story in the Rio Grande Guardian. Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.